Summer jobs initiative for young New Caledonians
Updated
This summer around 2,000 young people in New Caledonia's South Province will participate in a unique seasonal employment initiative.
Presenter: Helene Hofman reports
Speaker: Marjorie Botella from the Youth Integration Mission for New Caledonia's South Province, la MIJ
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For the last 18 and a half years, the youth integration mission for New Caledonia's South Province known as 'la MIJ' has been working to help young people in difficulty find work.
The organisation believes that finding suitable and sustainable employment is the key to integrating young people into society and keeping them off the streets.
To this end, it launched its 'summer jobs' initiative in 2003, to find six week work placements for students aged 16 to 26 during the summer holidays.
Since then, the scheme has gone from strength to strength.
Last year 1,700 young people took part, and this year the number is expected to exceed 2,000.
Marjorie Botella from la MIJ says part of the reason it's been so successful is the diversity of jobs it offers:
Botella: What we try to do is make a link between the young people and the companies. They can have different kinds of jobs like hospitality jobs in administration or in hotels. They can work in stock taking, wholesaling, agriculture. They can work as well with young people, so they have plenty of kinds of jobs.
The initiative has become particularly successful since la MIJ began holding an annual fair.
In the style of speed dating, young people are invited to drop off their CVs and meet the employers for two minutes.
It means the companies can quickly identify candidates to cover holiday leave or deal with additional work and avoid a lengthy recruitment process.
Because of their age and inexperience, students are paid between 50 to 100 per cent of the monthly minimum wage of 115,000 French Pacific francs or about 1,200 US dollars.
Marjorie Botella says even this amount can be a big incentive to work:
Botella: It's a way for them to discover the work and have a bit of money during the summer, maybe to help them to buy a car later or to have more leisure for later. And how we choose them depends on what the company wants to have. It depends on the qualifications of the young people. They can be qualified or not at all, it depends on the job.
Six years after its inception, la MIJ says its clear that the Summer Jobs program is achieving its aim of encouraging students to continue their studies and develop skills.
Marjorie Botella explains why.
Botella: We can see a progression, of course. Young people can be aware and benefit from this experience. Its for them to realise what is working life and after this experience they want to go to school. It permits them to realise that if they want a good job they have to go to the school and finish their studies.
